Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1887-05-28
MYSTERIES OF PARIS.
Dark and Dangerous Resorts
or the Fren ch Metropolis.
Vaults and Cellars Where Murderer
and Thieves Coagrsgate.

visit the cellars near the Central mar
kct, writes Paris correspondent Of the
New York Sun. In the Faubourg du
Temple, at La Chape!e, and in the
ntf5ifbori1ooi of the Place Maubert
these cellars or vau IS below grog shops
are famous as the resort Of thieves and
bad characters. They ar among the
sights Of criminal Paris which the stran-
ger rarely visits, however much his
curiosity may have been awakened by
the desert ptions given by Eugene Sue
in his 'Mystcries Of Paris. SO
we made up a party of three, and be
tween and in the morning we ar
rived at the Central markets. We left
them TO their dreams, and descended by
a narrow staircase into series Of vaults,
the white Eashed ceilings of which were
covered with arabesques and names
written in black with the smoke of
candle. In one part of these vaults a
group of men were drinking and singing
pdIOuicS OF church hymns.
This did not come up to our expecta-
tons, SO we went to La Jeune France"
a famous cellar where man had been
assasslnated only few nights before.
We passed through gate, down one
fight Of narrow stairs, then STOPPING
low we passed under an archway re-
served in the foundations of the house,
down another flight of stairs, then
through another archway, along a tor
tuous passage, and SO to tunnel about
seven feet high, five feet broad, and
twenty feet long. The vault of the roof
was covered with green treliiswork,
there were benches and rush stools to
situpon; wooden tables bearing the
marks Of strife; and to light Us, two
gas-jets. We were here at the very end
OF the mousetrap, and we now under
stood why the police never enter these
''caveaux IS no possibility OF a
fair fight. When we entered the ''ca-
vcau" there was nobody there, but
after we had ordered some wine two
musicians cam in. The one was a
miserable male fellow half starved and
half blind with = thin blonde mons
tache He sang and accompanied him
self by striking few chords on q guitar.
The other was short, bony man, with
black beard, drunken blue eyes, round
shoulders, and an appearance of humlli-
tv, as if he were constantly afraid of re-
ceiving kick. He sang in turn, strum-
ming on single bass chord. The tip
gwen by some watcher soon brought
four other vlsitors--a bury ruftlan, who
wore huge req fez rising eighteen
inches above his crown, young man
wearing a thin cotton blouse, and two
others dressed IN cast OFT clothes OF
fashionable cut, without a yestige
Of linen. The humble musician sang.
above all things, an air from 'Mignon,"
keeping his eyes fixed on the ground as
he sang, and pointing to his heart with
an awkward gesture whenever the word
''hcart'' occurred in the romance. Sud
denly one after another f1alf a dozen
athletic, square shouldered men, vary
in- in age from seventeen to twenty five,
crept through the narrow archway, pass
inc, -a,ia,v IN without even clancino ot
onr table and massed themselves at the
endof rho want lolIinc an tho benches
smo.;n, c;ca-sttos and drinkinr at our
expense for v, ,hop-ht !. only polite
- offa- those oan,,a,non = GLASS Of w7ne
tho moro Cd os tho musicians were nIav-
;no for our amusement After "Mirnonn
,bo ,,e;o ,-;.h .bo -od f.z as.od for
-,